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Swiss woman kidnapped by al-Qaida in Yemen asks help for release

01 May 2012 21:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Swiss woman kidnapped by al-Qaida two months ago in Yemen asked Swiss authorities to help secure her release in an online video on Tuesday. "I work in al-Hodeida and since March 13 I have been kidnapped. I’m in the hands of al-Qaida now. I’m being treated well," she said in the short video, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"And I ask the Swiss embassy and the Swiss government to do what is necessary... what they can do to get me free," said the Swiss woman who was wearing the Muslim-style black headscarf.

The Swiss woman, working as a language teacher, was kidnapped in March by al-Qaida in the western Red Sea city of al-Hodeida. Security sources said that she was moved to a hideout of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the southeastern province of Shabwa.

Beside the Swiss woman, the AQAP also kidnapped a Saudi diplomat and a French aid worker during the past two months, attempting to force the Yemeni government to release its jailed members from the Yemeni and Saudi prisons.

Earlier in the day, al-Qaida militants in Shabwa attempted to kidnap a French national from an energy company led by France’s Total, but failed due to resistance from the security escorts. The French expert was seriously injured and one policeman was killed.